Cobo's new work rules to save exhibitors money

The Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority forged a new work rules agreement with unions, providing services at Cobo Center intended to lower costs for exhibitors.

The agreement, which covers all events at Cobo, provides more-flexible work rules and better-defined policies for workdays and overtime, the authority said. It will make Cobo more competitive within the convention and meeting industry and help attract new business, CEO and CFO Patrick Bero said in a release.

On the move

Bill Ludwig, Campbell-Ewald

• Bill Ludwig, chairman-CEO at Campbell Ewald, is stepping down after more than 30 years, executives told Advertising Age. The Detroit-based agency, expected to tap an internal successor within weeks, earned a spot this month on Rogue, a team appointed global creative agency of record for Cadillac.

•The Detroit Historical Society hired Kate Baker, a former Wayne State University official, as managing director. Baker, 33, will replace COO Michelle Wooddell, who left to launch a consulting business.

• The Milford-based Women's Caring Program named Emily Houk, 40, as CEO. She succeeds Judy Muhn, who had been interim executive director. Houk was an affiliated consultant at Public Sector Consultants in Lansing.

• Two-term memberKwame Kenyattaresigned from theDetroit City Council, The Detroit News reported. He didn't give a reason for leaving, but said the council is virtually powerless now that Detroit is run by an emergency manager.

• Susan Docherty, the former U.S. marketing chief for General Motors who now leads Chevrolet Europe, will retire Sept. 30. Docherty, 50, is leaving to spend more time with her family, Automotive News reported.

Company news

Detroit Bus Co. via Instagram

The Detroit Bus Co. school buses will be used to ferry youth to after-school and summer programs.

• Attorneys for William Davidson Foundation President Jonathan Aaronare appealing an Oakland County Probate Court decision that the court does not have jurisdiction to hear a case seeking to divide the foundation's $1 billion-plus in assets.

• Plymouth Township-based BioSavita Inc. won the $100,000 SmartZone Award at the Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest awards program for its technology that employs the same yeast used to make beer to grow genetically altered drugs for treating cancer.

• Huron River Ventures, an Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm that specializes in very early-stage investments, announced it closed fundraising for its Huron River Venture I fund at $11 million. That includes an investment of $6 million the Michigan Economic Development Corp. announced in 2010.

• The DTE Energy Foundation said it will fund more than 500 jobs for youth as part of a $1 million "Youth Employment Initiative" to support Detroit recreation centers over the next four years.

• The Skillman Foundation awarded the Detroit Bus Co. $100,000 to create a free youth-ridership service, starting July 1, that will ferry children to after-school and summer programs offered through Skillman's Youth Development Alliance.

• International Automotive Components Group SA, the Southfield-based auto parts supplier, is seeking $115 million in a U.S. initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing, Bloomberg News reported.

•The Detroit Red Wings signed center Pavel Datsyuk to a three-year contract extension through the 2016-17 season. Financial terms were not disclosed, but CapGeek.com, which tracks National Hockey League contracts, listed the extension at $23 million.

•Milwaukee-based auto parts maker Johnson Controls Inc. might consider breaking up its electronics unit and selling the pieces if it doesn't get a strong enough bid for the business, Bloomberg News reported. Johnson Controls' Automotive Experience business unit is in Plymouth.

Other news

M. Roy Wilson

• Cities and tax increment finance authorities in southeast Michigan no longer can capture tax revenue anticipated to be collected for the Detroit Institute of Arts and Detroit Zoo, after Lt. Gov. Brian Calley signed into law four of the seven bills in a package of legislation aimed to curb the practice.

• Incoming Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson will make $60,000 more in base pay his first year than Allan Gilmour is collecting his last year at the same post and will receive a $50,000 bonus for staying in office five years. Wilson will start Aug. 1 at a base salary of $470,000 under a five-year employment contract.

• Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and business leaders announced the formation of Leaders Advancing Macomb, a nonprofit organization that will help fund community development and environmental projects in the county and its municipalities.

• Former SAC Capital Advisors LP portfolio manager Mathew Martoma and U.S. prosecutors reached an agreement with the University of Michigan giving them access to documents encrypted on a laptop belonging to the government's star witness in Martoma's insider trading case.

• Officials of M1 Rail say the delay in awarding the initial major construction bids won't jeopardize the timeline to begin work this year on the $137 million Woodward Avenue streetcar project. M1 Rail had planned to award the construction manager and general contractor bids by May 24.

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